The Red Baron on Film

Although a century separates us from the First World War, footage of the legendary German flying ace brings him as close as a computer screen.

Text by Nancy Payne

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March 20, 2018

Members of the Australian military show off pieces of wreckage from the Red Baron's triplane on April 22, 1918. Some historians argue that an Australian fired the fatal bullet that killed the Red Baron.

Australian War Memorial

Manfred von Richthofen, the storied First World War pilot, was responsible for the deaths of eighty fliers, including at least nine Canadians. His Fokker triplane was one of the most feared sights in the wartime skies.

As the story in the April-May 2018 issue of Canada’s History reports, Canadian pilot Roy Brown has often been given credit for shooting down the Red Baron, but it’s more likely that an Australian soldier on the ground fired the fatal shot from a Vickers machine gun on April 21, 1918.

The footage below shows the aftermath of von Richthofen’s crash-landing. Out of respect, the Red Baron was given a full military funeral by the Australian Flying Corps near Amiens, France.

Read “The Final Flight of the Red Baron” by Joel Ralph in the April-May 2018 issue of Canada’s History magazine.

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